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Wow - I actually have some time to write a blog post this week. I've been so busy with buyers that I'm going to have to call in one of my trusted agents in my office to help if this keeps up. I experienced a short lull after the tax credit expired but the low interest rates have created a new surge. It was nice to have a couple weeks to re-boot and now it's back to work. I took one buyer out looking at Tinley Park homes that admitted she had been using my MLS search on my website for quite so... Read Full Post

I am working with wonderful buyers that have already sold and closed on their beautiful Tinley Park townhome. These were dream sellers as they listened to all of my tips and suggestions. They cleaned up the toys, they switched out an area rug, they removed some dated paneling and mirrors, they made price reductions, they sent their dog to her parents temporarily. They left the house for showings (with a newborn baby) and turned all the lights on. Now they are buyers They can't understand sell... Read Full Post

As an Oak Lawn resident that is trying to sell my own home, I'm surprised I didn't post the 1st Quarter market stats first in the series of the main towns I work in. Maybe I was afraid of what I would find out. Single Family Oak Lawn Homes For Sale - 1st Quarter 2010 Stats # of Houses Sold Average Sale Price Sold YRD Sold YRD YOY Avg Price Avg Price YOY 2010 2009 % Chg 2010 2009 % Chg 71 38 86.8% $196,042 $192,704 1.7% This is a huge increase in amount of single family Oak Lawn homes sold fro... Read Full Post

My finger slipped and I lost an entire post - when will I learn? Here I go again (on a Word doc). Morgan Carey and REW are sponsoring another contest! Like many of you, I am quite busy during the spring/summer real estate cycle of home selling. I felt a lull right after the tax credit expired here in the U.S. but I got sick that week so it was perfect timing. Morgan Carey is helping Carolyn Capalbo regain her website reputation since she shares the same name with a woman who has a daughter in... Read Full Post

I wrote a post last week about fighting a low appraisal on an Oak Lawn home for my buyer. Let me reiterate, why would my buyer want the appraisal to go higher? Because the seller was ready to walk and declare the contract null and void and my buyers wanted the home. They agreed to the contract price and none of us expected the home to appraise low. Sometimes, I'll see a listing my buyers are interested in and I feel it is overpriced or may not appraise at the contract price, but this wasn't o... Read Full Post

I recently got an accepted contract on an Oak Lawn home for my buyer clients. Although I felt the asking price was a bit high, once we settled on an accepted contract price I felt assured there wouldn't be any appraisal issue. I was wrong. The Oak Lawn home was listed at $259,900, the accepted offer price was $245,000 with the sellers paying 1.5% towards buyer's closing costs. Everyone was happy. Until I got a call from my buyer that the home didn't appraise. It appraised at $232,000. Back to... Read Full Post

The chart below shows 1st Quarter Market Stats comparing Tinley Park homes sold in 2010 to 2009 Unlike many southwest suburbs, Tinley Park is showing positive figures for the 1st quarter of 2010 in amount of Tinley Park homes sold and there is also a small uptick of 1.6% in the average sales price. We'll take it! Maybe this positive news is due to the fact that BusinessWeek put Tinley Park on their list as one of the best places to raise kids in the United States. The chart below shows 1st qu... Read Full Post

Orland Park is such a popular village (ending up on Money Magazine's best places to live lists multiple times), that some residents find it hard to believe that prices are continuing to drop. We're in the spring season, the tax credit will be ending soon, shoudn't we be seeing positive sales? Well, yes and no, as seen in the stats below: In the first quarter of 2009 there were 40 single family Orland Park homes sold. In 2010 that figure jumped 20% to 48 homes sold in Orland Park. That's the g... Read Full Post

Like most southwest suburbs, Tinley Park has seen declining sales and prices over the years, although there were a couple of uptics in sales price on both Tinley Park homes and Tinley Park condos and townhomes in 2006 (homes and condos/townhomes) and 2007 (condos/townhomes only). Comparing 2008-2009 Tinley Park Real Estate Sales Detached single family = 222 units sold | Avg. sale price $251,423 % difference from 2008 = 0.9% decrease in sales | 7.2% price decrease Attached single family = 277 ... Read Full Post

Orland Park IL has been named one of the best places to live several times by Money Magazine. So how has such a popular village fared over the years with Orland Park real estate sales? I have compiled sales data starting with 2005 so you can see the amount of total sales and average sale prices over the years - click Orland Park Sales Statistics to view the information. To compare 2008 to 2009, there were two increases and they are the amount of Orland Park homes and Orland Park condos and to... Read Full Post